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What is lead bullion and how pure is it after smelting?

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Metallurgy — lead processing A zinc-lead blast furnace and lead-splash condenser. This technology is utilized mainly for producing zinc while managing both lead and zinc from raw materials, a technique that was highly influential in 20th-century smelting.

Lead bullion, often referred to as base bullion, is the semifinished product obtained after the smelting process in a blast furnace.1

Following the initial smelting and drossing stages, this material typically consists of 95 to 99 percent lead. Despite this relatively high lead content, the bullion still contains various dissolved metallic and nonmetallic impurities, such as copper, antimony, arsenic, silver, and gold, which must be removed through further refining to achieve commercial quality.12